Raudline Etienne

Founder, Daraja Capital

Raudline Etienne is the Founder and CEO of Daraja Capital.  With 25+ years of institutional investing expertise and a unique perspective, Ms. Etienne’s ability to recognize the investment opportunity inherent in nascent investment  talent is unparalleled.  Capitalizing, developing, and elevating the fund managers of tomorrow is the primary mission of Daraja Capital.

For more information on Daraja Capital, click here.

Investor, Founder and Innovator

Working as both as an investor and a coach to diverse alternative asset management firms, Raudline Etienne is focused on bridging the capital access gap faced by these entrepreneurs in finance.  Raudline also organizes the resources and tools they need to penetrate the institutional investor market.  

Raudline boasts a featured executive profile at Bloomberg.com where the highlights of her expertise include some of the industry’s biggest and most influential firms.

 

 

Background:

 

Prior to founding Daraja Capital, Ms. Etienne served as Chief Investment Officer (CIO) for the New York State Common Retirement Fund (CRF), the third largest public fund in the United States with assets of $145 billion from 2008 through 2011, . Appointed by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli as Deputy Comptroller for Pension Investment and Cash Management, Ms. Etienne directed portfolio decisions for the nation’s third largest public pension fund. As CIO, she oversaw all aspects of CRF’s investment strategy, including asset allocation, policy and governance, investment structure, partner selection, and risk management. Her responsibilities included oversight of 60 professionals and management of a global portfolio of equity, fixed income, hedge funds, real estate, private equity and opportunistic investments. She also was responsible for CRF investment operations, including internal portfolio management, custodial services, and securities lending, as well as management of external investment advisors and consultants. Her team was responsible for the College Savings Program with assets of $12 billion, and the state’s $6 billion short-term investment pool consisting mainly of tax-revenue collections and federal aid.

Previously, Ms. Etienne was a Managing Director, and Co-Head of Non-Traditional Investment Group at Rogerscasey in Darien, Connecticut. She headed consulting relationships for public and corporate retirement systems on issues of investment policy and governance, asset-liability management and asset allocation, and investment manager selection and monitoring. During her 11-year tenure with Rogerscasey, she developed wide expertise in asset classes, investment strategies, and institutional investment managers. Earlier, Ms. Etienne was an investment consultant at WHP, the predecessor of FIS Group.

Ms. Etienne was instrumental in creating the Connecticut Hedge Fund Association where she was a board member, and the Robert Toigo Alumni Endowment Board on which she served as the first president. Ms. Etienne also served on the Toigo Foundation’s Governing Board. She was appointed to the International Accounting Standards Board, and the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Financial Crisis Advisory Group which considered financial reporting improvements to enhance investor confidence.

Ms. Etienne earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA in finance from the University of California at Berkeley where she was awarded the Robert Toigo Foundation Fellowship and served as President of the Black Business Student Association.